Easter storm not stopping Easter festivities

Winnipeggers celebrate Easter Winnipeggers celebrate Easter restriction free. Mason Depatie reports.

Not even a storm is stopping Winnipeggers from enjoying the first Easter in several years without public health restrictions.

"Last night, I had like a dinner with the whole family, and then we went this morning for the church and then we're going to visit my son's grave at Glenlawn Memorial," said Joey Reynoso, who was choosing to spend time with family for Easter.

"Fantastic, first time in two years all 30 of our immediate family got together," said Shane Henrotte, who had a celebratory dinner on Saturday.

With no public health restrictions in place, many in-person Easter events returned.

At Oak Hammock Marsh on Sunday, kids of all ages enjoyed fun events like a GPS-guided egg hunt.

"It's all about Easter, so it's fun, it's family-oriented, and a great way to spend the day at the marsh," said Jacques Bourgeois, the marsh's marketing and communications coordinator.

Bourgeois said the Easter festivities drew out a good crowd of families despite the weather not cooperating.

"It's actually not the Easter we were hoping for with all this snow. We had to close the building for a few days before the event itself, and unfortunately, I guess it's kind of competing a bit with the travel to come to the marsh."

Also in the spirit this year are small businesses like Osborne Florist, which saw a slight boost in sales thanks to Easter.

Oriana Marinelli, the store's owner, said the extra business is very welcome, even with the storm changing the delivery schedule last minute.

"So I've been doing this for about 25 years, and Easter was never usually a big deal anymore," said Marinelli. "People rarely celebrate it with flowers and family dinners, but when COVID hit, it just went haywire."

However, the most important part for Winnipeggers this Easter is connecting with family after a long time apart.

"For two years, we've been like deprived of that, so we don't have much time to see family face to face now," said Reynoso. "You know you can hug your family."